ABC

Women Behind the Scenes Spotlight: Meredith Averill

Meredith grew up in Pennsylvania, attending Pottsville Area High School where she graduated in 2000. She then attended New York University, studying screen writing and television writing

Meredith shared that she “always knew (she) wanted to write, but (she) didn’t know what it was (she) would end up writing…(whether it was) essays, film reviews or poetry; but the thought of writing for film or television didn’t occur to me until I was in college”.

She further shared that “the classes were intense and for the most part, pretty intimate. I think I definitely went into college a lot more reserved and apprehensive than I am now. The classes really forced you to put yourself out there and lower your guard”.

Her inspiration to write wasn’t only spurred on by her time at NYU, though, but also by several of her high school teachers, who she said “made me feel like my writing wasn’t just a hobby, that it was something I could and should pursue. They made a huge difference”.

After graduating from NYU, Meredith worked as an intern at Music Television (MTV) studios and later made her way to become an assistant at MTV and NBC. She participated in a writing program by NBC, which helped her to get an agent.

She then took a job assisting Andre Nemec and Josh Applebaum, the executive producers of October Road. When that show was canceled, Meredith “went out on a limb”, asking them if they would consider letting her write some episodes of their next project: Samurai Girl, the ABC Family made-for-TV movie, for which they let her write two episodes. She then ended up working with Andre and Josh again as part of the writing staff on their next project, the American remake of the British hit series Life on Mars that only lasted one season.

From there Meredith has worked as a story editor and writer on the short-lived series Happy Town and most recently she has worked as part of the staff for The Good Wife, starting out as a story editor, getting promoted to executive story editor, writer, co-producer and producer over three seasons.

This coming mid-season, Meredith will be the writer and executive producer on the new CW series Star-Crossed that chronicles the epic romance between a human girl and an alien boy when he and eight others of his kind are integrated into a suburban high school. She will co-showrun the series with Adele Lim, who – like Meredith – both got an overall deal with CBS TV Studios. Not ironically, Josh and Andre as well as Scott Rosenberg, Richard Shepard and Bryan Furst will also be executive producers of this new series.

Using her favorite online handle, Rueben is an East Coast-bred gal who is now a permanent Californian and a lifelong tv-oholic. She watches at least 25 TV shows a week, goes to the movies as often as possible, listens to music every waking moment, reads every day and “plays” on the internet every chance she can. Some of her current favorite TV shows are Outlander, Arrow, Grimm, The Blacklist, Teen Wolf, Killjoys, Dark Matter, The Shannara Chronicles, Good Witch, When Calls the Heart, The 100, Switched at Birth, Jane the Virgin, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Flash and The Fosters (among others). Follow her at @ruebenrambling or contact her at rueben@nicegirlstv.com.